Acoustic Biotopes, Listeners and Sound-Induced Action: A Case Study of Operating Rooms

Elif Özcan (), Cornelis L. H. Broekmeulen, Zoe Alexandra Luck, Monique van Velzen, Pieter Jan Stappers and Judy Reed Edworthy
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Elif Özcan: Critical Alarms Lab, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands
Cornelis L. H. Broekmeulen: Critical Alarms Lab, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands
Zoe Alexandra Luck: Critical Alarms Lab, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands
Monique van Velzen: Department of Anaesthesiology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands
Pieter Jan Stappers: Department of Human-Centered Design, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands
Judy Reed Edworthy: School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-23

Abstract: As socio-technological environments shape and direct listener behaviour, an ecological account is needed that encompasses listening in complexity (i.e., multiple listeners, multiple sounds and their sources, and multiple sound-induced actions that ensure the success of a mission). In this study, we explored sound-induced action under the framework of “acoustic biotopes” (a notion of ecological acoustics by Smolders, Aertsen, and Johanessma, 1979 and 1982) in a specific socio-technological environment, i.e., the context of an orthopaedic operating room. Our approach is based on literature research into the topics of environmental psychology and auditory perception and action and in situ observations in healthcare with field recordings, participatory observations, and interviews on the spot. The results suggest a human-centered definition of sound-induced action in acoustic biotopes: Acoustic biotope is an active and shared sound environment with entangled interactions and sound-induced actions taking place in a specific space that has a critical function. Listening in highly functional environments is an individual experience and is influenced by hearing function, physical position and role in an environment, and the task at hand. There is a range of active and passive sound listeners as a function of their attentive state and listeners as sound sources within the acoustic biotope. There are many different sound sources and sound locals in socio-technological environments and sounds have great potential to serve critical information to operators. Overall, our study provides a holistic, multi-layered and yet a listener-centric view on the organisation of complex spaces and the results can immediately be applicable for rethinking the acoustic environment for ORs for better listening and sound-induced action.

Keywords: acoustic biotopes; sound environments; sound-action coupling; listening types; operating rooms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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